Setting up a Moleskine

Another Moleskine has been filled up, and I started breaking in a new one yesterday. Enough people have asked how I use mine, so I thought I would share exactly how I set up and use my Moleskine journal. With each one I have found better ways to make it work, so here is the latest.

In terms of use, my Moleskine is where I catch all my thoughts and ideas related to ministry, develop sermons, brainstorm, work on current projects and more. I need as much freedom as possible for it to work for me, so it’s the Large Plain (blank pages) Journal.

Here’s how I set it up…

1. Name and Reward.Don’t forget to put your name and contact information inside the front cover. Include a “Reward if returned” statement. If you wind up using it and lose it, you’ll want someone motivated to get it back to you.

2. Number every other page, bottom right hand corner.Numbering allows for easier reference (see below). There are 240 pages in my journal, my first numbered page is 3. Odd pages only because I’m too lazy to write on every page, and numbering the even pages as well is unnecessary.

I think $20 is a nice round figure. The problem for me was that I value my journal much more than that and the reward figures were completely over the top. I feel the need to mention that I will come and pick it up. That way you are coming to get it and giving them $20 and it eliminates any effort on their part as well. Of course they’re sitting there reading the thing as you hurry over. No faith in other human beings!

This has been helpful to me: I leave the first page blank when I start in (working titles and whatever else you want there). I number the pages, but only the front of the page as I go along, you could always call it page “2B” down the road. The best advice I have heard is that the 3 pages from the back you create a “Table of Contents”. So you have pages 1-3…When I stopped smoking. 6-7…Taking the cat in for surgery. Because in the long run it will help you to find things. REALLY!

I’ve heard that some people will put for the reward that they’ll buy you a beer. One other thing I forgot: If you want your horrible little bookmark functional for awhile, put some nail polish on the end or else it will unravel completely. I go ahead and rip them out fairly soon into the game…Like a bandaid, quick, they’re glued to the outside of the paper along the spine and it doesn’t hurt a thing.